


Statement #0121608

by BadWriter420



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Original Character(s), Original Statement (The Magnus Archives), Quote: Statement Begins (The Magnus Archives), no beta we die like archive assistants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29470662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWriter420/pseuds/BadWriter420
Summary: Statement of Jamie Downer, regarding a caving trip and the disappearances of Lucas Wood and Matt Trevis
Relationships: OC/OC, Original Character/Original Character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Statement #0121608

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Death, Suffocation, going mad, blood, the spiral
> 
> This is my first time writing a statement or a horror piece so I hope y'all enjoy  
> \- Bear

Statement of Jamie Downer, regarding the disappearances of Lucas Wood and Matt Trevis.

Original Statement given August 16, 2012

Me and Lucas were mates, you know, since uni. We were both bioengineering majors and so we ended up in a lot of groups together. By the time we graduated we were close, told each other everything. Like brothers, you know? After uni, he started working in caving, lots of guided tours, and all that. So when he called me asking if I wanted to go on a tour, I said yes. He took me to the Porth Yr Ogof where he worked. I fell in love immediately, the way that the cave smelled, that strong earthy smell, and the way the earth enclosed around me. It was like I was making my way to mother nature herself. It was euphoric. 

That was what, 8 years ago? Anyway, I went caving with him a couple of times a year since then. I work a pretty well-paying job but with not a lot of free time, and well who needs a girlfriend when you have caves. Anyway, Lucas was enough in my life. We’ve been living with each other for well over a year when he came to me with another cave. Lucas had his eyes on Ogof Draegen, Wales’s largest cave system that was locked away from the public. We could’ve easily gotten an application through to the owners but Lucas had a scuffle with the caving club so our application was denied the first few times. Finally, after sending an application in early 2012 we got accepted. We got an email from a man named Matt Trevis, who said he worked for the club and that our application was accepted for a 24-hour caving trip in June. Lucas and I jumped right on the offer, I made sure to take the time off and started planning. I called up my brother, Jason, a week before and he promised to call rescue if I didn’t show up at his flat which was about ten minutes away after the 24 hours. He hated that I went on these trips but knew how much they meant to me. He tried to talk me out of this one, I wish he did but, I was stubborn. 

So on June 14th, 2012 Lucas, our equipment, and I made our way to Ogof Draegen. He wanted to get to “the War of the Worlds” this huge stretch that was full of these red-roofed caverns. I did all the research and I had the maps, I did. I attached them to this paper, you can check. We followed the map to the T and never got lost before. Lucas was determined to do this cave and I made sure everything was in order. I would describe Lucas as a dudebro, always been super sporty, and never all that bright. So I was in charge of figuring out where we were going. We drove the hour it took to get there and Matt was there to greet us at the gate so me and Lucas got out of his car. Matt explained that it was just a walk up to the entrance and that he would see us there. He was a tall man, about 2 meters with brown hair and blue eyes. The way he acted was strange, almost buzzing with excitement, which was strange for someone whose job it was to open gates and make sure everyone gets out okay. He had this too-wide smile and his eyes had this look to them like we wanted us to be scared. He was rail-thin but something about him was, feral. He wasn’t in caving gear, he looked like a 90s website and an 80’s bowling ally had sex and the outfit he was wear was the deformed child they created. Matt walked us up to the small entrance to the cave. The entire way up Lucas was flashing me nervous glances. He explained later in the cave that he was freaked out.

So with Matt behind us, Lucas and I started the crawl through the entrance. It was a small hole in the ground, barely noticeable. I remember feeling so claustrophobic for the first time in my life like the earth was fighting against our descend. The early morning light barely illuminated the first few feet and with Lucas behind me, the dark soon overcame us and I reached up to switch on my lights. 

The cave was tight around us until after a few meters. We were able to set up ropes and climbed down and down until we got to the bottom which quickly turned into a low crawl, one of the ones that get you real close to the earth, Lucas always loved these parts, said they were like being hugged by the earth. He loved the weight, when we slept he would insist that I hold him even though he already had a weighted blanket. The crawl opened up and we quickly got to this stream which we followed through more crawls, all of which made me quite nervous but I didn’t want to ruin this for Lucas. It was pretty easy all things considered, some squeezes here and there but nothing too extreme but that dread hovered over me like a falling building. That’s when we got to the true entrance. A huge cavern with beautiful formations. I went to look around and take photos while Lucas stopped and looked at the logbook. He called me over while holding the book tight to his chest and looked up at him like he had seen a ghost.

Look at this book, look at the names, he said he held the book up and I took it apprehensively. I slowly opened it up and wrote there was Matt Trevis, June 14th, 2012. 

What about it?, I asked but he went on about how Matt could get down to the logbook and back while looking so fresh. I brushed him off and said something about how he could’ve gotten the date mixed up and that it was fine. I’ve always been a skeptic about these things, ghosts, ghouls, strange men who trap you in a never-ending cave system. This kind of stuff was all made up to me and I never had the stomach for horror movies, but Lucas, he lived for ghost stories, loved them half to death, always talking about the latest Reddit post or Stephen King novel. So when he started going on about Matt I thought that all that horror got to his head. 

We pushed onward and soon we both forgot about the strangeness of it all. We went on in silence until we hit a larger cavern. I convinced Lucas to stop for lunch before we continued. We approached what was supposed to a quick choke, so I started going through it since I knew the way. I should probably explain what a choke is, it’s a tight squeeze through some boulders, anyway, we made our way through, I’m not a big man, not at all but as I continued through the walls started to close in. Like the earth was trying to swallow me. It kept pressing in and in and for the first time, I felt like I was going to get stuck. But I had to keep going, if I got stuck, I could risk Lucas getting hurt, not like that matters anymore. I pushed forward as the rocks around me sliced through my clothes and my helmet pressed against my head. The earth dug into my skin and I felt my skin tear and rocks dig deep into my skin. The earth had teeth and I was on the menu. But then there was nothing, I was standing in the next cavern. Lucas was hugging me tightly and laugh right in my ear. He smiled at me and asked if I was okay I was standing there for a while. I smiled and shook him off, nerves I said. He asked if I wanted him to go first and I refused, it was fine. 

We got to another tight squeeze and slowly made our way across the closing earth but this time the tunnel didn’t yield. We just kept on crawling and soon we hit a turn. I took it and prayed that Lucas could make it through, I was tight around me even and he was a slightly larger man. I kept on pushing forwards as my dread built up, this was only supposed to be 3 meters but it felt like a never-ending maze. As I slowly crawled I felt something grab my foot and I let out a shriek and sped up as much as I could. I felt as the tunnel started to yield on my body and soon I was able to stand. I stepped back to make way for Lucas and as I blinked I found myself in the cavern we were standing in before. Lucas was shaking me and I was laying on the ground. What the hell, he yelled at me. Explained that for the past 20 minutes I had been crawling around the floor until I screamed and stood up. I tried to explain to him what happened but he just stared at me like I was crazy. I am not crazy okay. I am not. I am perfectly sound of mind, or I was then. 

Lucas looked at me and sighed, said that we could go back and try again another day. I saw how disappointed he was so I shook my head. I reassured him that I could keep on going and he nodded, said that he would go first and that if not, we were going back. So I let him, there was no real way to argue with him when he’s in a mood and I don’t think I was all there. We approached the squeeze I just suffered through and he made quick work of crawling inside. 

The familiar dread came upon me as we made our way, I saw him in front of me, my Orpheus leading me around the underworld and to what I assumed was safety. Soon the tunnel opened up once again to a new cavern but something was off. Lucas stood frozen in front of my exit and let out a shrill scream. He backed up, completely blocking my view as I heard a laugh that I could only describe as nauseous. You, you are Matt, you were outside! Lucas said his words trembling like a cowering child.

Yes, and now I am here, Matt’s voice replied but everything was wrong about it, it had a buzz like old tv static and breaking glass

You can’t be here! No! Lucas yelled into the cavern and it echoed back in a mocking tone

Lucas screamed once again as he dashed into the cavern. 

That’s when I saw him. It would be generous to say it looked human. Its face and body glitched and contorted like a broken videogame and its once soft brown hair floated above it with that same slight glitch. It was impossible and I tried to crawl back but where there should be a tunnel, there was only more dirt and stone. The thing that called itself matt laughed and laughed as it grew to a towering size, its extending limbs glitching and changing wildly. That’s when I heard Lucas scream again and the deafening sound of parts of the cavern falling and crushing him where he stood. There instead of the man that I refused to admit I loved, was a pile of rocks and rubble. I screamed with all the guilt and rage that built up inside me. He wasn’t supposed to die, he was supposed to be fine and we were supposed to get out of this cave together and laugh about how strange it was while I cooked us dinner. Not me standing in front of an unimaginable horror whose smile just grew and grew the more I screamed and yelled and pleaded. The smile followed me as I ran to the rubble and tried to dig up the rocks with my bare hands. I threw rocks and dirt everywhere but all I found was a small red flower. It was a poppy, Lucas always loved poppies, and said they brought new life. 

I hate poppies more than anything now.

As I pulled the flower from the ground, out came a short man with dark brown hair. The flower was embedded in his head and vines and poppies grow in and out of his skin. He looked like a corpse with his dead eyes and as he stood I saw that mushrooms made a home on his shoulder. He wore old torn and dirty clothes that looked more in place on a small farm. His dark hair was embedded with more flowers and his dark eyes bore into me. I tried to back away but soon backed into something and a shock which felt like ten thousand volts were shoved through my body. I let out yet another scream and I looked up to see that I had bumped into the ever grinning glitch, like an old video game. The two had me trapped between them. 

My heart pounded in my chest and I saw an opportunity to dash back and away from these monsters, I slid under the human-made of mud and dust and all things buried. Getting up I ran to the exit of the cave and started crawling through a small tunnel. I pulled out the map as the world around me shrunk and shrunk. Looking down at the lines that would pull me free I crawled I heard the deafening sound of Lucas’ screams and static. I did not slow down and continued to push forward. Lucas was dead and I could do nothing to help him, I failed him. The rocks tore into my skin and I felt blood leak down my arms. I needed to keep looking at the map, I couldn’t let these monsters get to me. 

There was another poppy, I felt it as I crawled over it. The tunnel around me shifted and twisted in impossible ways and the walls turned to mud. I tried to hold my breath but it was too late. I felt the mud drip, drip, drip, down deep into my lungs. I tried to cough it up but more mud waterfall down. I was drawing in the earth and I couldn’t even scream. I struggled against it as my limbs burned and my vision grew hazy. That was until a hand-pulled me from the earth. A young man, no older than 20 helped me up and out of the dirt. I shakily stood up and he took my hand. He gave me a journal and lead me to the exit. I slowly made my way out and when I looked behind me, there was just rock. I held the journal to my chest and stumbled out. There was the rescue team with my brother. My brother ran towards me and I was soon in the ambulance. Apparently, this has been the third day they had come down to look for me. I don’t remember much else about my stay in the hospital. Ever since then I keep on getting this feeling that I’m being followed or going mad or something. Like things moving in my flat or this guy who I’ve seen before keeps showing up whenever I leave my building. I can’t ride the tube anymore either, too claustrophobic now.

I left the journal with you, it’s written in some jumbled language I can’t understand, and looking at it fills me with this sense of dread like if I do understand it I will be sent back deep underground. I also looked up Matt Travis after a few weeks in the hospital. Searched through LinkedIn and Facebook profiles until I found a face that matched. Apparently, he was a uni student who went missing a few days before Lucas got the email. I’ve moved out of my and Lucas’s flat and have been going to counseling. I hope to put this all behind me so please do not contact me further.

Statement Ends. 


End file.
